


and do I help them? yes indeed.

by alaynerivers



Category: UnREAL (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-11 21:55:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9035735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alaynerivers/pseuds/alaynerivers
Summary: Rachel's headed for a meltdown, and everyone is coming with her.Pre-Series fic





	

It’s season 12 and the girls are getting out of the limos, as she hunches on the floor, out of the camera’s line of sight. In Rachel’s limo, a thin, blond waif of a thing leans over to ask Rachel, “Are you okay? That looks pretty uncomfortable.”

Rachel looks up. It’s her job to call girls sweetie and make sure they’re okay. And then to push them until they aren’t, but still.

“It’s fine. I’ve done plenty of limo rides this way before. It means I’m here to help, Claire.”

“Oh, okay. I just wanted to check in.”

 

Claire is considered the sweetheart of the season. Quinn tacks a “wifey” by her name. The hair and make-up staff adore her, Sean thinks she’s cute as a button, and the country proclaims her their choice to win Sean’s heart after she tells him about how she grew up playing dolls with her mother and then her father, after her mom passed away at age 5.

Rachel always smiles at Claire. It’s easy to.

 

Claire is not picked on by the other girls. Rachel can’t tell if it’s because they see how likable she is or because they actually like her, too. That season, Sara, an accountant from Milwaukee, is Everlasting’s bitch, and she has a fixation on Melanie, who is the prettiest and most insecure girl there. No one likes Sara, but the audience is equally annoyed by Mel’s self-doubts. Mel and Sara pull all their friends into their weird feud, and that drama fuels the season. Claire comes out unscathed, and she ends up in the final three with Melanie and Hannah, one of Sara’s friends.

Behind the scenes, Rachel and Jay joke that Sara and Melanie just needed to make out. 

 

Even Quinn smiles as Claire comes on-screen. “Where the fuck did we find her?”

 

Somewhere in the middle of this, Rachel has her first date with Jeremy. Or they have sex. Either way.

 

Sean picks Claire for the overnight date. Her face lights up, and Rachel is almost convinced that Sean and Claire could live happily ever after. Or that Claire could get her the $10,000 she really wants for her student loans plus rent. She’d be cool with that.

 

Mexico is wonderful and awful in equal measures. Jeremy kisses Rachel hard and makes her laugh. They film sex on the beach and splash around together in the water. Rachel feels free for the first time she can remember.

 

 

Also, Quinn pushes Rachel to amp up the drama with Sara gone. 

She’s in a hot tub with Melanie, Sean and Hannah, just out of frame. She’s pushing for a threesome, and Melanie is actually about to kiss Hannah. Sean looks like he’s about to shit his pants.

Rachel is wasted. She’s been plying the girls with alcohol to get to this, and she had to drink, too. Somehow she had vodka and tequila (the combo is her kryptonite), and now she’s stumbling into Jeremy’s hotel room and he’s fucking her and it’s all she wants and oh my god.

 

Jeremy smiles at Rachel when she wakes up, and she feels real and solid. Like she didn’t convince two girls who hated each other to have sex last night. Whatever.

 

 

Hannah goes home after the threesome. Somehow, she’s dubbed the slut who led the charge in the editing process, and Jay convinces Sean to send her packing. One more to go.

 

 

Sean meets Claire’s father, and they get along well. There’s a clip of Sean asking for and receiving permission to ask for Claire’s hand in matrimony. 

Claire smiles bright and beaming every time Sean walks into a room, and Rachel thinks this will be an easy bounty for her. Sean is attracted to Melanie, but he’s as annoyed with her as the rest of America is.

 

 

Rachel walks in the control room. Quinn is complaining about Claire, today. “It’ll be so boring if she wins. Standard perfect bullshit. Ugh.”

“Quinn, come on. Everyone loves Claire.”

“Exactly. Wouldn’t they love to see her go down?”

 

 

Rachel is somehow tasked with convincing Sean to pick Melanie. It takes her ten minutes flat. She’s not sure if this is because she’s so good at her job or because the suitors are inevitably pieces of shit. Tonight, she’s going with the pieces of shit explanation.

 

 

Rachel’s with Claire that night on a video interview, and Claire is so excited. She’s talking about how amazing Sean is, and thinking about how she might need to deal with her teacher’s license when she moves, and Rachel, I’m not crazy, right? To be in love? Rachel shakes her head, uses a tarnished smile.

 

 

Somehow, this whole thing causes a fight with Jeremy. As though it is Rachel’s fault that this show has the shit version of the Midas touch. As though she could fix it. She pulls out her bottle and hates herself with alcohol instead of thoughts. It usually works pretty well.

 

Her brain hurts and her thoughts are swirling. Right. She needs to be better than this. Isn’t that what Jeremy said? Okay then.

 

Rachel stumbles drunk as shit onto the beach where filming is happening. Whatever. Fuck Everlasting.


End file.
